How are your negatives delivered to you?

[RattyMouse]

I just got back my first set of C-41 negatives sent in to a lab for just development and I have to say, I dont think I could be more disappointed.

The negatives were returned to me all rolled up, giving them THE most HELLACIOUS amount of curve I have ever seen from a negative. I mean, seriously, it takes 4 hands to get them into my scanner's negative holder and even then they are not flat at all. The scans look like vasoline was smeared over the lens or something.

In China, my negatives were returned to me so flat it would blow your mind. Not even the slightest hint of a curl, packaged very professionally, for half the price of what I paid in the US.

Since this is my first time using a lab, I dont know what is normal. I used the Photo Place out of Youngstown Ohio. I have no idea what they thought I was going to be doing with these negatives. They are virtually unscannable.

5 rolls, shot to hell.

How are your negatives returned to you when a lab develops them?

 

[BrianShaw]

I've only used a few labs in the past 20 years. Now just the one because the others closed business.

Here's how I've had negs returned:

1. 120 and 35mm uncut, sleeved and rolled, delivered in a cardboard box. These always had a nasty bend to them especially when I didn't page sleeve them upon arrival.

2. 120 individual frames mounted on aperture cards with roll and frame number identification, and printing data. Archaic, but my favorite.

3. 120 and 35 mm cut and in flat page sleeves and paper envelope. Seems to be standard at a lot of labs. Good enough.

Option 3 is how my current lab returns film, together with a CD and a print reference showing thumbnails of each frame.

 

[BradleyK]

The Lab, here in Vancouver, returns my negatives (35mm and 120) and my transparencies (120), uncut, in a single strip, enclosed in plastic. I usually pick them up the day following processing, so "curving" has never been an issue. As well, they are usually packed in a generously-sized box; so again, any compaction of a roll/rolls is negligible.

 

[MattKing]

Like BradleyK, I am fortunate enough to be able to hand deliver and personally pick up developed film. I can even walk to my most local lab (London Drugs) when I have 35mm snapshots, and wan't the results that day.

If I so request, they return negatives uncut and sleeved.

I'd suggest re-rolling the curved negatives in the opposite direction, and then leaving them for a couple of days.

 

[Rudeofus]

I have processed my own negs/slides for several years, and sometimes they have turned out very curly, no idea why. If you somehow manage to put them into sleeves, you can press them for a day or two under a stack of books, and they will be quite straight after that, definitely straight enough for scanning. Do not try to rewash these negs/slides, as this may wash out the bacteriostat (c.f. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)) which keeps them long term stable.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I get my 135 and 120 uncut because they cut the film in a way that does not work for PrintFile. So the film comes up rolled up in a long plastic sleeve. After the file is placed in the PrintFile page I put a weight on it to flatten it in a day or two. This is normal for several photolabs that I have used.

 

[markbarendt]

Depends on the service you specify. I think I got surprised once like that when I had "just develop" specified. Since then I've always opted to get mine back flat in sleeves when there has been a choice.

Just ask the lab if they can do it flat instead.

The other thought I had is that if you had some C41 stabilizer you could put them on a reel and soak a few minutes then hang your negs to dry with a bit of weight, clothes pin.

 

[RattyMouse]

I have processed my own negs/slides for several years, and sometimes they have turned out very curly, no idea why. If you somehow manage to put them into sleeves, you can press them for a day or two under a stack of books, and they will be quite straight after that, definitely straight enough for scanning. Do not try to rewash these negs/slides, as this may wash out the bacteriostat (c.f. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)) which keeps them long term stable.

Long ago I asked about putting weight on negatives to try to remove curl (from my own development). I was strongly cautioned to NEVER do this. I dont know the reason why. The curl I'm seeing now is 1000 times anything I have seen before. I am so sickened by this that I might just throw them in the garbage. 3 hours now and I have scanned all of 10 images...and they look like garbage.

 

[georg16nik]

Long ago I asked about putting weight on negatives to try to remove curl (from my own development). I was strongly cautioned to NEVER do this. I dont know the reason why. The curl I'm seeing now is 1000 times anything I have seen before. I am so sickened by this that I might just throw them in the garbage. 3 hours now and I have scanned all of 10 images...and they look like garbage.

Just roll them backwards and let them stay for a couple of hours at room temp and ~ 60% relative humidity.

 

[markbarendt]

I was strongly cautioned to NEVER do this. I dont know the reason why.

Well if you avoid barbells ...

Seriously though I don't know why you would have been told that. I actually have a clip and weight set that was specifically manufactured to do exactly that and its a lot heavier than a clothes pin.

 

[MattKing]

Long ago I asked about putting weight on negatives to try to remove curl (from my own development). I was strongly cautioned to NEVER do this. I dont know the reason why. The curl I'm seeing now is 1000 times anything I have seen before. I am so sickened by this that I might just throw them in the garbage. 3 hours now and I have scanned all of 10 images...and they look like garbage.

Don't throw them away!

There is nothing wrong with either reversing the curl, or pressing negatives to flatten them, provided that you are very careful with them, and only use clean, soft materials where contact is made with the negatives themselves.

I use the inside of large cardboard tubes to reverse curl sleeved negatives. The gift tubes used for wine bottles work well too.

 

[wildbill]

flatten them. no big deal

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Flatten the negatives between books. Use ANR glass on scanner holders to flatten curly bits. Myriad ideas other than a hissy fit.
If my negatives / transparencies come back curled (extremely rare, as they are returned uncut in a continuous roll) I place them between polished wooden planks and park the car on them for a day or so.

 

[Pioneer]

In your situation, put them in negative pages and lay some big books on them. I put the negative pages between the pages of the bottom book. Two or three days later they look just fine. My wife's nursing reference books seem to be just right. There are some films that are just naturally curly and these are the ones I typically weight down by books.

If I ask my lab they will cut and sleeve them for me. In that case they are returned sandwiched between heavy cardboard that is taped together. If I don't ask for this they return them in long plastic sleeves that are rolled up inside a 4x4 box, but not real tightly.

 

[Element 6]

Richard photo lab returns e-6 in flat sleeves cut to 6 frames long (35mm)

Indie film lab returns C41 uncut in a 3" diameter heavy cardboard tube (rolled).

 

[bdial]

My local shop returns them sleeved and cut into strips of 4 unless I remember and ask for them uncut.

Putting them under weight to uncurl them if you need to isn't a problem. Leave them sleeved, I usually use a couple of pieces of matt board to isolate them from the surface of the weight (either a stack of books, or my wife's book press).

 

[Alan Klein]

Mine returns my 6x7's flat in a single sheet sleeved in four rows 3-3-2-2. No dust for the most part.

 

[Truzi]

I still take my color 35mm to the drug store (Drug Mart), and the negatives are cut and sleeved (unless I ask them not to). My B&W negatives are sometimes a curled mess, but I do that myself

 

[Rudeofus]

Long ago I asked about putting weight on negatives to try to remove curl (from my own development). I was strongly cautioned to NEVER do this. I dont know the reason why.

If you have dust on your slides, pressing with a hard surface could be harmful. As other suggested, something moderately soft (think cloth, felt, ...) between the slide and whatever presses them could go a long way towards avoiding this issue.

One more thing: Apply gentle pressure, you don't need much weight to straighten out your slides. The purpose of pressing is not to squeeze anything out of your slides, but only to force them into a desired geometry, which these slides will then take on after some time.

If you are afraid of pressing them, you could try to just hang them as you'd hang freshly developed film strips, and you can use one or two clothespins to add some weight at the bottom end.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Dust is not a problem. The negatives come in a plastic protective sleeve. I remove the sheet, cut the negatives and put them in the PrintFile archival storage sheets. If the film has a curl I place a book over the PrintFile sheet. If you got the negatives in the usual plastic page of sleeves there would be no difference.